Tennis: Bautista Agut beats Safiullin in Barcelona
he Spaniard, who is chasing his 12th ATP Tour crown this week, will meet seventh seed Karen Khachanov in the second round.
Home favourite Jannik Sinner capped his brilliant run in the year-end tournament with a fine win over Daniil Medvedev which took the Italian start to the brink of ATP Finals glory on Saturday.
Sinner delivered a gutsy semifinal display to overcome Medvedev 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1 and book his spot in the championship match in which he will meet the winner of the second semifinal between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
Faced with an elite opponent and the huge expectations of an adoring home crowd, Sinner delivered a largely ice-cool display packed with clean baseline hitting to extend his unbeaten week inside the Pala Alpitour in Turin.
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Sinner needed to stay at his best throughout the two-hour, 29-minute clash to down the typically resilient Medvedev. Crucially, the 22-year-old reacted superbly to the disappointment of losing the second-set tie-break, as he marched through the decider to cap a victory in which he won 83 per cent (50/60) of points behind his first serve.
After not beating Medvedev in the pair’s first six tour-level meetings, Sinner is now 3-6 in their ATP head-to-head series, having also defeated his rival to become champion in both Beijing and Vienna in October. The turnaround of his matchup with Medvedev has been part of a wider streak of red-hot form for Sinner, who is 17-2 since the US Open.
Should Sinner go on to beat Djokovic or Alcaraz and lift the trophy, he will become the first Italian winner in the 54-year history of the Nitto ATP Finals. He would also take home US$4,801,500, the biggest payday in tennis history, by becoming the undefeated champion in Turin.
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